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Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Unfocused Thoughts on the Fyrdlands

For a bunch of reasons I don't want to get into I wrote a new setting that would allow me to hand someone the PHB and make a character without my telling them X or Y thing was off limits. It started out as a C&C project but quickly became a 5e one for more reasons.

Anyway here's some stuff to know about it and to help me crystallize some of the ideas in my head.

The Fyrdlands is a coldish border region north of the Realm of Man. It was previously colonized by some humans who wanted to escape the Realm of Man but now the Realm has begun to push into the region itself.

The area lies on the southern border of what was once the land of a powerful entity referred to primarily as the Prime Evil but also as the Dark Enemy and the Shadow. He was destroyed long ago but many of his lieutenants and evil spawn remain.

Some of the most famous of these surviving "lieutenants" are Elemental Evils, which some ancient texts believe only came about when the Prime Evil was destroyed.

There may be other big-time lieutenants (Vecna maybe?) who have quasi-god like powers.

There are also the races he created: Goblins (from Dwarves), Hobgoblins (from Elves), and Orcs (from Men).

Some evil wizards have used the work the Prime Evil did to create their own monsters, such as the Dragonborn which may only be chromatic due to their being an evil experiment (though their personal alignment is up to them).

Elves and Dwarves lived in peace for a time but warred because the Dwarves supposedly did not actively help in defeating the Prime Evil. Both those races dwindled and it allowed for the servants of the old Enemy to return, filling the Fyrdlands with goblins and orcs again.

Tieflings are the descendants of Men who chose to side with the Prime Evil. They founded a strange culture known as the Nations of Night which flourished sometime before the birth of the Realm of Man and ruled the goblinoids of the Fyrdlands through governors.

The Nations of Night collapsed for reasons unknown to Realmish folk.

The original wave of Realmish settlers (actually fleeing the Realm) came a few hundred years ago.

The PCs are assumed to have arrived in a Realmish settlement from the direction of the Realm.

Some new evil is stirring in the wilderness in the area causing orcs and goblins to return and breathing out fresh horrors.

The local town (which I think I need to rename) is ruled by a Marques (who also needs to be renamed). He generally would like to control the old settlements as well.

The chief religion is the Unconqured Sun who, in addition to having other divine aspects, allows for the worship of smaller gods.

Many of the setting elements not present here will be stolen from the Jennell Jaquays penned Forgotten Realms supplement "The Savage Frontier," which is a book I think is phenomenal attached to a setting I basically hate.

That's probably enough for now, though this one might need multiple posts.

Well I'd need to know how you're defining "open table play." My online group, which has the most fluctuation, is typically there because they like this blog and the stuff I do so they're there explicitly for the snowflake setting.

My home group, since it didn't form around my blog, tends to want more traditional D&D stuff and I explicitly designed this setting to appeal to them while still appealing to me.